local news City editor: 562-2441, local 503 Thr i^eil Tuesday, October 11, 1983 — 3 EXPLOSIVE SITUATION IN B.C. management fighting for survival Labor and by Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Survival is the issue as the labor-management battle lines are drawn in British Columbia these days. Unions are struggling to keep rights won during more prosperous times and employers are struggling to restrain labor costs and maintain the momentum of economic recovery. Two key disputes in the province at present involve almost 100,000 government and forestry workers. Of the two, the principles in the government dispute are perhaps the more important. ‘ The forestry negotiations are following the same set of rules they’ve always had but under tougher economic circumstances,” said Mark Thompson, a labor economist with the University of B.C. ‘‘But the public workers face a different challenge. The government is doing an end-around play, trying to get what they want through legislation rather than negotiation. “In labor terms, B.C. is like a small town where la- bor leaders know each other and the private unions anticipate that what is happening to the B.C. Government Employees’ Union is just the tip of the iceberg.” B.C.’s Social Credit government, holding a strong mandate from a convincing election win last spring, is trying to take away long-held power from unions, which represent 45.7 per cent of the province’s work force. Premier Bill Bennett is starting with the public sector but his government has also promised changes to the B.C. Labor Code in the near future. John Fryer, president of the National Union of Provincial Employees and a negotiator for the B.C. Government Employees' Union, has his own view of what’s happening. Fryer said in an interview from Ottawa that the B.C. government hopes to attract investment for high-tech industries and Pacific Rim trade, particularly with Japan. “Both the hi-tech and Japanese investors demand climates where unions are either non-existent or moribund,” Fryer said. ‘‘Given all that you can see what is happening in B.C. industrial relations.” But Jim Matkin, head of the B.C. Employers Council, explains the government’s intentions in terms of competing in the international marketplace. “We’ll lose jobs if we can’t compete internationally,” Matkin said. “To give workers more than industry can afford is the cruellest thing you can do because what you’re doing is giving the worker a ticket out the door.” He said there has been a “dramatic downturn” in private sector settlements and unlike in the past these settlements are based on ability to pay, not inflation. “This is a year for survival bargaining for both industry and employees,” he said. Those interviewed agree the government and its employees’ union are speeding towards a head-on col- lision when the contract expires Oct. 31. The union has 49,000 members but only 38,500 are covered by that contract. Rodney Dobell, a University of Victoria public labor specialist, said both sides are so firmly entrenched that ‘‘there are not many ploys left to avoid confrontation.” But labor observers disagreed on the likelihood of either individual strikes or a province-wide general strike as has been threatened. ‘‘I don’t think very many people will go to the barricades to defend tenure in the public service for one thing,” says Dobell. Fryer said: ‘‘If union members are strong enough in voicing their concerns to their leadership then that can be a very powerful force. The only people who can avert a strike in the public sector is the government and the only guy in government who can do that is Bill Bennett.” HART DRUGMART HART CENTRE STORE OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK 9 A.M. - 9 P.M. Sundays & Holidays 10 a.m.-6 p.m. DOWNTOWN STORE OPEN 6 DAYS A WEEK 9 A.M.-6 P.M. Closed Sundays & Holidays BANNED FROM HOUSE Can Bennett afford Barrett martyrdom? Forum slated by CHARLES La VERTU Canadian Press VICTORIA — A calamitous week in the British Columbia legislature has stunned the nation and left a searing question on the future of expelled Opposition Leader Dave Barrett. Can the Social Credit government afford to let the suspension stand to the end of the session and clothe the former NDP premier, dragged and dumped through the chamber’s revolving door in Thursday’s pre-dawn hours, in the mantle of a martyr? Premier Bill Bennett says he has nothing to worry about, but at least some Socred caucus members are looking for a way out provided the 23-year house veteran is not seen to get off scot-free. NDP house leader Frank Howard asked Speaker Walter Davidson on Friday to reverse his explusion order saying that the speaker erred in using the British house rules rather than the B.C. rules. Davidson reserved decision but noted “at first blush” that the opposition leader “was fully and completely aware of the cxonsequences of his own actions.” Barrett himself appeared to hold out an olive branch in a Friday Pair rescued Two Prince George men were rescued by helicopter late Monday afternoon on the Salmon River after becoming overdue on a hunting trip. Jordan Buller, 30, and Mike Kraft, 31, had set out to boat the river and meet relatives near Pilot Mountain, 25 kilometres northwest of the city. Relatives informed police when they failed to arrive on schedule. appearance on BCTV’s Jack Webster show. Calling for calm, he said he was prepared to work out a schedule to get logjammed legislation through. And he told a caller who likened B.C. to the Philippines: “The government is not a dictatorship. Some extravagant words have been used, unfairly I think.” Barrett got the heave-ho in the third week of off-and-on overnight sittings, punctuated by frequent closures, as the government sought passage of a vast package of social and economic legislation in the name of restraint. It came after a prolonged argument with an inexperienced acting Speaker who first asked him to take his seat, then to leave, and finally ordered the sergeant-at-arms staff to remove him after the 200-pound-plus former rugby player refused to leave voluntarily. Parliamentary experts could find no real precedent for the event here or elsewhere in Canada. A Nova Scotia legislator was forcibly evicted some years ago, but only after starting a slugfest. Defiant and indignant, Barrett vowed to do it again under similar circumstances in defence of hard-won parliamentary rights. He is due to retire from the provincial political scene next spring. The matter might not be resolved before the legislature adjourns for next weekend’s annual Social Credit Party convention in Vancouver, a likely scene of new demonstrations against the background of a threatened month’s-end strike by civil servants and the weakened hopes that the Solidarity Coalition might persuade the government to soften its program. The University Women’s Club is first off the mark this year to arrange all-candidates forums for the Nov. 19 civic elections. An all-candidates forum for aldermanic hopefuls will be held at 8 p.m. Nov. 15 in the multi-purpose room at the Prince George library, A similar forum for school trustee candidates will be held at 8 p.m. Nov. 16 in the same location. Details on the format for the meetings will be worked out at a later time. Noon break set for gov't agent Starting Oct. 11, the Prince George government agent’s office will be closed from noon until 1 p.m. Deputy government agent Kent Saxby says the office is closing for an hour due to splitting up of staff. The total staff level in the regional and district office has been reduced from 18 to 11. The three people working in the regional section of the office have all been transferred, leaving the district office to continue the region’s function. Of the 15 people in the district office, three have been transferred and one is retiring. The regional and district offices are in the same location. The government agent’s office handles such functions as motor vehicles, vital statistics, consumer taxation, and fishing licences. Restraint bill changed VICTORIA (CP) -Bowing to pressure from the New Democratic Party and others, Provincial Secretary Jim Chabot introduced Friday what he called major changes to the controversial Public Sector Restraint Act. That is the bill that gives government the right to fire any of the province’s 250,000 public sector employees. However, Opposition critic Gordon Hanson said the changes only demonstrate that the government’s consultative process is a sham and a farce and do nothing to improve the bill. Hanson said the changes will provide PUBLIC'S HELP SOUGHT Identities a mystery RCMP are continuing their frustrating search for clues to the identity of a man and woman found shot to death in a bushy area outside Chet- wynd late last week. A post mortem is being conducted in Prince George today in the hope of gaining more information, says inves- tigating officer Sgt. Ray Cunningham. The two bodies were discovered by a Chet-wynd resident Thursday afternoon about 40 ki- RCMP photo of male victim. RCMP photo of female victim. lometres west of that community. Chetwynd RCMP have released these photographs of the couple and have requested media assistance in identifying them. Other photographs are also available, and persons who believe they may be able to assist in identifying the couple are asked to contact the RCMP or The Citizen. RCMP are speculating the couple, a man in his early 30s and a woman in her early 40s, might have been tourists from Europe. The female victim was slim, of medium height, with shoulder-length, reddish brown hair. She was wearing a blue ski jacket, red wool sweater, blue jeans and tan-clolored running shoes. The man is described as tall, slim, with reddish-brown hair and he wore a blue-and-white plaid jacket. “Both were dressed for the outside,” said Sgt. Cunningham, who added he believes the couple was shot either Wednesday or Thursday. It’s a “guess”, he says. He added police have no reports of missing people and are working through Interpol in Ottawa to establish European links. • Residents are “doing their best" but a major stumbling block for the investigation is “we don’t know what to ask,” emphasized Sgt. Cunningham. Composite sketches of the couple will be released later today, he said. “retroactive legality” to actions already taken by the government. Chabot said the changes clearly define the intent of the legislation and ensure that it is fair. “First of all, we are clarifying our ability to issue notices of termination prior to the expiry of the collective agreement,” he told a news conference. “There was some confusion as to our ability to do so (before the contract expries Oct. 31), and the amendments put forward now give us that opportunity.” The changes specifiy that any notices of firing issued since July 7, when the government’s controversial legislative package was introduced, are valid. Chabot said the only reason the employees were told four months in advance that they would be fired was to give them a chance to find work elsewhere in government or out. As promised, the government dropped the words “without cause,” and specified the firings can be only for lack of funds, lack of work, if a program is discontinued or if the level of service •is reduced. According to the minister, the biggest change to the bill is establishment of a review panel instead of the judicial review originally planned. He said this will allow a fired employee to appeal to the panel “what they might feel is an unjust or unfair termination.” “Essentially it’s a fast-tracking mechanism that’s been put in place to ensure that there’s fairness in determinations,” Chabot said of the new panel. The appeal board’s ruling then may be subject to judicial review “as a final tribunal in event that an individual feels that the review panel has not dealt fairly.” Another change will allow school board to fire teachers effective Jan. 1 instead of at the end of the school term. Collision kills two Two people died and six others were injured Sunday in a two-car crash near Houston, RCMP say. The accident occurred about 1 p.m. on Buck Flats Road when a car driven by Dean Boilard of New Westminster went out of control on a curve and slid into the path of another vehicle driven by Christopher Dodds of Houston. One of the passengers in Boilard’s car, 24-year-old Ewan Hansen of Richmond, died at the scene. Boilard, 21, was taken to Vancouver General Hospital where he died Monday. Another passenger, 25-year-old Larry Dorosh of Vancouver, is in stable condition in Shaughnessy Hospital in Vancouver with neck injuries. Of eight people travelling in the other car, five were injured, an RCMP officer said. The mother of the driver, Mrs. Lillian Dodds of Spruce Grove, Alta., is in critical condition in Vancouver General Hospital. Members of the Houston fire department used the jaws of life to free the people in Boilard’s car. Plan endorsed A provincial plan to co-ordinate and protect the confidentiality of patient information was approved by the Health Records Association of B.C. during a three-day conference which ended Friday. The adoption of the plan prepared by B.C. Health Association is seen as a first step toward ensuring a standard policy to be used by all hospitals when handling requests for patient information from people outside the health care system including police, lawyers and families. Before being imple- also be approved by other professional health associations and individual hospital boards who now set their own policy about the release of patient information. More than 70 health records employees from throughout B.C. attended the conference. Marianne Sieck, head medical records librarian at Prince George Regional Hospital, was elected to lead the association for the coming year. She replaces Pamela Welton, medical records librarian at Shaughnessy Hospital. mented the plan must Cleanest Cars I In Town Check & Compare Connaught Auto Sales 562-1341 1795 Victoria St. J. Ian Evans & Associates OPTOMETRISTS J. IAN EVANS D.O.S. F.A.A.O. GREGORY E. EVANS B.Sc., O.D. ALANE D. EVANS B.Sc., O.D. J. SPENCER CLARK D.O.S., O.D. FRANK E. DECKER O.D. NIXON J. WHITE, O.D. ROBIN G. SIMPSON, B.Sc., O.D. Optical Wing 401 Quebec St Fane Building, Pnnce George, B.C. 562-1305 THE BAY PRESENTS GREAT LUNCHES AT LOW PRICES! mm sourer gal lilfeS SPECIAL rtpsh bnkPtl mini kxrt/dailv soup/ally nr pudding/coHoe Soup/special sondwich/ leliy or puddmg/cottee Only 3.19 Hot •ntrat/plly or pudding/cnffM Dally Senior Citizen Feature Hot Moal, includes jello or pudding, coffee or tea For 2.89 Xnrtison'G 33ay,(Eompan^ >. Explosion rocks 100 Mile bank ANNOUNCING 06 0 06 0 OO'WO0 O f'J ^^2aa&aHMaMBEHHBaCBBErk*",*~KaGaBMHaMMB£| /MOVIES! MOVIES! MOVIESlV^ Renta-Movie _ . mg. 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Police said the blast triggered an alarm and that the thieves probably fled in panic. RCMP Const. Andy MacLean said the blast left broken glass, torn doors and walls and twisted chunks of metal all over the place. “Pieces of metal from the night safety deposit box were embedded in walls 80 feet away,” he said. MacLean said the thieves gained entry to the mall by smashing through several doors in shops. They then tore throught a wall to make their way to the rear of the night deposit box. Another police spokesman estimated there could have been tens of thousands of dollars in the night deposit. TWO LOCATIONS HART CENTRE DOWNTOWN MALL 3rd AVE. 962-9666 564-7147